


I Didn’t Know That

by blueharlequin



Series: In The Know [1]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Crack, Destiel - Freeform, Fanfiction, Fangirls, Gen, Humor, Parody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-03-23 12:25:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3768373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueharlequin/pseuds/blueharlequin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Penelope has a hobby. Spencer learns something new. Also a crack fic about how Reid was never adequately prepared for the thing that is -slash fanfiction- by his fandom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Didn’t Know That

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Français available: [Je ne savais pas, ça](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8789872) by [Malohkeh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malohkeh/pseuds/Malohkeh)



Spencer let Garcia into his apartment in a whirl of perfume and pink pigtails. “Do you mind if I finish something before we watch the movie? It will only take a moment,” she said as she pulled out her laptop and placed it on the coffee table.

“Sure, I need to set up the movie anyway.” Spencer grabbed the remote and scrolled through the menu screen. A few weeks ago, Garcia had set up a computer attached to his TV and installed Netflix and a bunch of other things for him. Admittedly, he was sure she had done it so that they didn’t have to squish together on the couch and watch it on her laptop. After he settled on the menu screen, he glanced over to see what she was working on. Lines of text stretched over the page and for a moment Spencer though Penelope was working on one of their reports. Looking closer he realized that she was writing a short story,

> _“Dean leaned over and ran his lips over the angel’s sweat dappled skin. Cas moaned lowly as the hunter worked his hand over…”_

Reid blushed bright red and sputtered as he tumbled over the rest of the sentence, causing the bubbly blonde to look up at him. “Are you okay?” she asked as he coughed in embarrassment.

“Are you writing about Supernatural?” He asked, not wanting to elaborate on exactly what he had read.

“Oh yeah!” Garcia bounced in her seat. “I’m writing a destiel fic. Do you want to read it afterwards?” The owl eyes he gave her must have given him away. “Reid,” she smiled wickedly as she said his name, “have you ever read any fanfiction?”

Spencer would be the first person to admit he didn’t know anything about certain subjects. Despite his long time dedication to Doctor Who, he wasn’t that savvy about fandom culture. Attending conventions was enough social interaction for him. “I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never really paid much attention to it.” He paused searching for the right words so that Penelope didn’t feel like he was making fun of her. “I kind of dismissed it, since it sounded like a bunch of teenage girls plagiarizing works of fiction.”

“Oh Spencer you have no idea!” she exclaimed, not offended in the least. Saving her document, Garcia swept aside the remote on the coffee table and set her laptop down. Reid could tell the movie was temporarily forgotten as she turned to face him. “Fanfiction is a way for fans to expand on something they love. Think about it! What does the Doctor do in between adventures? Or what about that plot device that the writers of the show threw in there but never explained? More importantly, what about that UST between those two characters? The shipping possibilities are endless.”

Reid had to take a moment to process all of the things that tumbled out of her mouth. In the end all he could manage was a weakly muttered squeak, “Shipping?”

“Well a lot of the fanfiction that I read is based on two characters getting together. Whether intentional or not, if there is a close relationship, hence 'ship', between two characters it can be construed in a variety of ways. Sometimes the writer just has ‘shipping goggles’ on, but with Dean and Cas it’s sort of hard to miss the relationship there. I mean the unresolved sexual tension, at least on Cas’ part, is destiel slash fiction gold.”

Spencer took a moment to dissect the origins of this new set of vocabulary he was learning. Reid was seriously doubting his sanity for wanting to know more but it was an interesting insight into fandom culture so he proceeded with another question, "Okay I get that 'destiel' is a portmanteau of Dean and Castiel, even if it's pronounced funny, but what does slash mean?"

Garcia looked contemplative for a moment then replied, "It's a sign to denote a relationship between characters. Like Dean Winchester slash Castiel." She made a slanted chopping motion with her hand as she said the characters names. "Here," Penelope typed something into her laptop then pushed it towards him, "it's a site called Fanlore, Maybe they can explain it better than I can."

Spencer quickly sped through the entry. "I didn't know that. Hmm, I guess that makes sense. Do a lot of people write fanfiction?" He watched as she perked up and plucked the laptop from his hands.

"Oh my goodness you wouldn't believe it. There tons of stories out there and so many websites to post your stuff on. When I first started reading fanfiction, I found a lot of it posted on personal journal sites or websites dedicated to specific fandoms. There is this one site that I used to use, but their search and upload parameters are so annoying that I almost gave up. Now I use this one." She twirled the computer back around so he could see the screen.

"Transformative works," he read aloud. "Wow, that is impressive."

"Hmm," she muttered. Grabbing the remote she started the movie rolling. "If you think that's exciting, after we watch the movie I'll introduce you to tumblr." Reid looked at her, feeling slightly apprehensive about the rest of the evening. Penelope had a maniacal gleam in her eyes, she settled her computer on her lap and started typing away as she hummed "Carry On My Wayward Son" softly to herself.


End file.
